Fire's Burning, Draw Nearer
by Providence-of-a-Sparrow
Summary: In their sixth year, Ron and Hermione finally realize what they've been denying themselves for too long. A cute ficlet which I tried not to make too sickeningly fluffy.


Just a real quick and cute H/R ficlet in their sixth year. I don't own anything and all that jazz. Hope that you like it. Be brutally honest with me if you decide to review (and I hope you do!). I'm not sure if I'm good enough to embark on writing a long fic that I have in my head. Anyone recognize the title as being lyrics from a Girl Guide or Brownies song? Lol....  
  
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Fire's Burning, Draw Nearer...  
  
Hermione sighed audibly, the sound carrying across the nearly empty Gryffindor Common Room. She rubbed her eyes which were stinging for want of sleep and placed her quill besides her finished Arithmancy essay.  
  
"Why can't I be one of those people who studies best in the morning?" Hermione thought as she stretched out her stiff legs. She swivelled on her chair and rested her gaze on the pair of young men sitting by the glowing fire.  
  
Harry and Ron were engaged in a very heated battle of wizard chess. Harry had gotten better over the previous summer and was turning out to be a formidable match for Ron so their games had become longer and less casual. Ron was usually the victor even so, but not without a fight. Hermione smiled to herself as she gazed at Ron's face. He was leaning forward on his pouf, with his forearms on his knees. His face was one of immense concentration and one eyebrow was raised slightly higher than the other, a sign that he was thinking hard.  
  
"When did Ron become so grown up?" Hermione thought to herself. He had always seemed the most juvenile of the three but the previous year had forced him to mature. None of them had ever been the same since the battle at the Ministry. "It's not fair," Hermione thought bitterly. "Voldemort's has taken more than precious lives now. He has also robbed us of whatever childhood was left in us..." She leaned back on her chair once more to stretch out her torso. Her belly peaked out from the button up blouse she was wearing under her robes. "At least my body doesn't look as childish as before," Hermione thought with a smirk. She had filled out her frame a bit over the summer and was proud of losing that little pouch on her stomach which had embarrassed her for the past few years. "Not that anyone could tell under these robes anyways," she thought sarcastically.  
  
Ron made a move on the chess board with a loud and decisive tap of marble on marble. Harry groaned as he realised that the game was nearly over for him. Ron smiled in a self-satisfied sort of way and loosened his posture for the first time in half and hour. As Harry put his head between his hands and stared at the board, obviously in an attempt to think harder, Ron slanted his head towards Hermione and grinned playfully. He put one hand beside his mouth to shield the view of it from Harry and mouthed the words "I'm winning" before returning his gaze to the board. Hermione laughed softly. He was so cute when he did that. Hermione turned back to her work and began to put away her things slowly, thinking to herself.  
  
When had Ron made that fated transition from best friend to crush? "Oh yes... right around fourth year," she thought with a smile. Right around the same time that she'd realized that she actually wanted to make him jealous by going to the Yule Ball with Victor. It was complicated back then though. They were constantly bickering. Half the time she wanted to claw his eyes out and the other half she wanted him to reach out and grab her hand while they were walking to class. He'd been so immature then and it was easy for Hermione to see that he had some feelings for her. She wasn't sure anymore. He'd become much more guarded with his emotions and Hermione was convinced that the feelings he'd once held, had evaporated long ago. She finished packing up her things and swivelled silently in her chair once more to look at the boy near the fire. She could tell now that Ron was about two moves away from checkmate. He had that competitive glint in his eye.  
  
Hermione stood up and walked towards the pair. She sat down besides Harry on the long couch. He was sitting stiffly on the very edge of it, hopeful that Ron wouldn't notice the precarious position of his Queen. However, Ron made the final move and his pawn wrestled Harry's Queen to the ground, knocking off her crown in the process.  
  
"Checkmate, old man."  
  
"Ah, I should have known that you'd be planning something. You get me going that I'm winning and then you kick my ass."  
  
"Don't worry about it mate, you give me more competition than my other best friend." Ron teased, turning his eyes on Hermione. Hermione just sniffed in mock indignation which inadvertently led to a long yawn.  
  
"You tired too, huh? Did you finish your paper for Professor Vector?" Harry asked while yawning also.  
  
"Yeah, but I think it's a bit too long as usual."  
  
"Of course," Ron laughed, "He'd think that it wasn't you who'd written it if extra work hadn't been done."  
  
"Shove it," Hermione laughed, limply chucking a couch pillow at Ron who caught it easily.  
  
"I'd be scared if you'd missed that. I'd chuck you off the team so fast!" Harry yawned again. Harry had been allowed back on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Captain for his sixth year after his lifetime Quidditch ban had been lifted. "I think I'm gonna turn in. It's 1 am. You coming?" he questioned Ron.  
  
"Nah, I'm gonna sit up for a while. I'll see you up there."  
  
"Ok, see you two later then." Harry walked up the staircase to the boy's dormitories at the same time as one other straggler third year who had been working in the opposite corner of the room until now. Ron stood up and came and sat besides Hermione of the couch, shoving the pillow in her face as he sat.  
  
"You're such a child," Hermione sighed, exasperated, but too tired to fight back adequately. Ron grinned at her and they both turned their gazes to the sputtering fire. Hermione felt a little awkward being alone with Ron these days. She seemed to be hyper-aware of the close proximity of his body to hers, a feeling she'd never experienced before. It bothered her as she didn't want him to notice her discomfort. She didn't want him to guess her feelings for him as he obviously only thought of her as a friend. "Why would he want someone like me? To him, I'm just Hermione. A plain-faced girl who makes a good best friend, but not a girlfriend... Why do I work myself up like this only to be disappointed?" Hermione swallowed hard, the painful lump hurting as it went down. It killed her that their relationship had been so strained lately. She's been pushing him away from her even though it had been the last think that she wanted. It was such a confusing time with the threat of Voldemort growing stronger. Hogwarts no longer felt safe and there was a tense atmosphere that had never existed there before.  
  
She looked at him. "God, he's handsome" she thought as her heart wrenched inside of her. Ron had also filled out his gangly frame during the summer. His voice had deepened, his shoulders broadened and his face had taken on a much less adolescent shape. He'd also gained ample musculature from all of his Keeper training. She felt so sad all of a sudden. "What would I do if I woke up one morning and Ron was gone? Taken away by Voldemort, just like Sirius had been... I'd die. And he would have never known how I felt about him." Hermione let out an audible sob and Ron's head jerked in her direction. His features were surprised, unsure of what to do as Hermione began to cry openly, feeling utterly broken down for the first time since the Ministry incident.  
  
"God, 'Mione what's wrong?" Ron asked, concerned. He sidled up closer to her on the couch and put his arm around her shoulders in a brotherly sort of gesture. This only made Hermione cry harder. She leaned into his chest and sobbed into his robes, knowing painfully that this was as close as she would ever get to him.  
  
Ron felt stunned. "Why do girls always spontaneously break into tears?" he thought. "But Hermione has never done this... she must really be under a lot of stress. She takes on everything full force: Schoolwork, the D.A., S.P.E.W., and taking care of Harry and me." Ron's heart twisted with guilt. "I helped to drive her to this. I always fight with her and I can be such a prat... it's a wonder she doesn't to vent her frustrations more often..." Ron began to stroke Hermione's hair absentmindedly, not knowing what else to say. "But God, she's so beautiful. She's always strong for us, for everybody. It's no wonder she doesn't like me in the way I wish she would. I'd drive her to a breakdown." Tears glistened in the corners of Ron's eyes but he didn't try to sweep them away.  
  
Hermione's crying had subsided, soothed away by Ron's gentle caresses. "Oh God, if only he would do that when I weren't crying". Hermione felt a drop of something on the back of her neck. She stopped her sobs abruptly and peered up at Ron through her damp strands of wavy brown hair. "He's crying? I've never seen Ron cry like that before." Ron looked down at her and their eyes locked, somewhat awkwardly. Hermione sat up.  
  
"I'm sorry I put you in such a spot, Ron. Don't worry; you don't have to hold me anymore. I'll be ok now." Hermione said shakily and with a tone of regret. Ron looked strangely determined about something, though still teary- eyed.  
  
"I don't really want to let you go yet," he said huskily. Not being able to muster any more words out of his constricted throat, Ron lifted his free hand and caressed Hermione's tear streaked cheek. "She's not moving at all. Does this mean that she doesn't mind... or that she's too mad to react." Ron no longer cared. He tried to wipe away the gray smear of mascara which had run down her face but only managed to make it worse. "When had she started wearing makeup? It seems like only yesterday that she was a bushy-haired girl of eleven... instead of a beautiful young woman" Ron felt a strong compulsion to hold her tight and let her know how much she meant to him. He never wanted her to cry again and vowed to stop being so hard for her to deal with. Ron swallowed hard and slipped his hand behind the nape of her long neck. Without a second thought, he leaned towards her, gently pulling her closer to her with both arms. "Here goes nothing...."  
  
Hermione could hardly breathe. She watched Ron's face approach hers, his eyes closing as he went. Her heart stopped and she asked herself if this was a dream... or a cruel joke. She didn't care if either was true. She closed her eyes just as his lips touched hers. She could taste his salty tears in his kiss. He gave her a gentle and tender peck on the lips. He pulled away ever so slightly and they both opened their eyes and looked deep into the others. All was understood between them. Ron pulled Hermione even closer to him and deepened the kiss, slowly building it's intensity. Their heads were whirling with "what ifs" and surprise but the passion eventually took over. Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron's neck and pulled her torso flat with Ron's impulsively, her heaving chest feeling the flatness of his.  
  
The kiss slowed down eventually and both parties knew they must break away and face the other. They broke and they loosened their grip on the other, realizing with the force of a slap, the line that they had just crossed so impulsively. They released each other fully and sat rather rigidly besides each other on the couch, neither daring to break the awkward silence.  
  
"Wow," Hermione heard Ron whisper from besides her. She turned to him and leaned back into his arms, realizing for the first time that they had both been blind. Ron began to stroke her hair affectionately, not believing what he had just mustered up the courage to do.  
  
Hermione reached up and nudged Ron's face downwards to look at her. He smile warmly and she returned it. Nothing more needed to be said between the two. The sat on the couch and watched the fire reduce to nothing but weak coals before finally turning into bed.  
  
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FIN – Please review! It would mean a lot! Thanks!! 


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